From the lively atmosphere at the scene, Franz could tell that this epoch-making grand military parade was a complete success. As for whether some of the awe-inspiring displays might have caused discomfort to a few spectators, that wasn’t Franz’s concern. After all, a celebration was supposed to be grand and spectacular. Only over ten thousand people were taking part in the parade, barely one percent of the entire military strength of the Holy Roman Empire, which already showed how restrained Franz had been. If he really wanted to put on a show, he could have easily staged a full-scale mock battle with tens of thousands of troops. The deterrent effect would have been even greater. Still, this was already enough. Before the modern age, large-scale wars were rare on the European continent. Many of the supposedly “glorious” battles recorded in history were, frankly, exaggerated. Perhaps the ancients weren’t bragging out of arrogance, maybe they simply wrote history the way a novelist would. Take Herodotus’ Histories, for example. It recorded that 300 Greek soldiers defeated 5,283,220 Persians. Yes, that’s exactly how it was written, three hundred men defeating five million. As for how the battle was fought or what tactics were used, the details were glossed over. The entire account focused only on the bravery of the Greek soldiers. Three hundred Spartans clearly weren’t enough. If they had been replaced by Saint Seiya warriors, maybe the decapitation strike might have actually worked. Roman historians weren’t much better. In The Roman History, Appian claimed that “Caesar’s campaign in Gaul wiped out four million Gauls.” In Caesar’s own Commentaries on the Gallic War, he boasted, “We defeated an army of 430,000 Gauls without losing a single Roman soldier.” The real figures were impossible to verify since those times were too far removed, but one thing was certain: the Gauls back then couldn’t possibly have numbered four million. Of course, all of that paled in comparison to the Indians’ sense of scale. In the Mahabharata, it was written that in one great war, the number of fallen nobles alone exceeded 1.6 billion. As for the common casualties, Franz couldn’t even remember the figure since it was astronomical. It truly proved the saying, “The size of your heart determines the size of your world.” Compared to those ancient “records,” modern wars like the Prusso-Russian War or the Anti-French War looked pitifully small. Maybe the ancients weren’t lying. They just wrote their myths as if they were history, and later generations took them too seriously. In reality, limited by primitive economies, ancient European wars rarely involved more than a few hundred or a few thousand combatants. Any battle with tens of thousands was already a major campaign. So, this military exercise involving ten thousand troops was enough to shock the world. After all, many small countries had never participated in a battle of this scale since their founding. Even the envoys from Britain and Russia, both recognized great powers, did not look entirely at ease as they left. Whether their unease was genuine or merely for show, no one could tell. In any case, the Holy Roman Empire’s military parade was an absolute sensation. The footage recorded by the cameras had already been edited into a film and was being sent to various countries. In an age starving for entertainment, a real documentary of this magnitude was a treasure to be shared with the whole world. ... The global impact wasn’t immediately visible, but one thing was clear: the Empire’s armament factories had become busier than ever. Planes, tanks, and artillery suddenly became the hottest commodities in the international arms market, and demand far exceeded supply. What Franz hadn’t expected was that the largest purchase order came from his rival, Britain. But thinking about it, that wasn’t too surprising. The economic crisis was only just ending, and most governments’ finances hadn’t fully recovered. The only country still flush with cash was Britain. Whether they bought the weapons to show off or to take apart and study, they had to buy them first. Britain had plenty of military-industrial companies, and each wanted samples to examine. When divided among them, the orders easily numbered in the hundreds. Compared to a battleship costing over a million pounds, tanks and aircraft selling for tens of thousands were practically pocket change. ... At the Spanish embassy, Júnior, who had yet to depart, was lost in thought. The first loan had already arrived, and now that there was money in hand, it was time to decide how to spend it. Seeing other countries rush to buy tanks and aircraft, Júnior felt tempted. The military representatives traveling with him nagged about it every day. Temptation aside, Júnior was a rational man. He wouldn’t make hasty decisions just because of peer pressure. Planes were fine, they flew after all, and could be used in all kinds of terrain. Tanks, however, were a different matter. They ruled the plains, but once they entered mountains or hills, they turned into useless lumps of metal. Spain was no longer the mighty empire it once was. The government’s funds were all borrowed from abroad, and they would need to be repaid someday. If they didn’t spend carefully, and the rebellion wasn’t crushed before the money ran out, it would be a disaster. Junior didn’t believe that money from the Austrian government came without strings attached. Once the funds were gone, he doubted Austria would hand out more. Even as a subordinate ally, Spain still had to prove its worth. The Austrian government’s support was clearly designed to make Spain serve as a pawn against France. Such support only made sense if Spain could stand on its own feet and possessed real military strength. If its army remained weak, then how was Spain any different from Belgium, Switzerland, or Sardinia? In fact, it might even be worse. Sardinia aside, Belgium and Switzerland were both small but tough; their armies actually packed a punch. Combined, their populations made up about thirty percent of France’s, and during the Anti-French War, they had managed to bite off a piece of French territory. If those two countries continued developing, their combined national power might one day reach a third of France’s. After all, France was still being suppressed by the European Alliance and couldn’t develop freely. In theory, as long as Spain performed well and posed a threat from France’s rear, along with a few Italian states lending support, even a revived France would be surrounded and crushed. With that troublemaker contained, the Holy Roman Empire could focus on challenging Britain’s naval dominance. It was an open conspiracy, everyone could see Austria’s intentions clearly, but Spain had no choice but to go along. Whether out of hatred or ambition, Spain also longed for revival. But resources and space were limited, and Western Europe had no room for two regional powers. Out of both necessity and rivalry, Spain was destined to clash with France. After the European War, Spain became the spearhead of the anti-French movement. Even when colonial rebellions erupted, Spain still kept an “elite” force stationed in France. The government preferred to hire mercenaries to fight the rebels rather than withdraw that unit, which spoke volumes. “Any updates from the Jewish bankers? Will the follow-up loans go through?” Júnior asked. No matter how grand the strategy, everything came down to money. To secure more of it, Junior had long abandoned moral scruples. Even knowing there might be issues with Jewish loans, he pretended not to care as long as it was backed by the Guilder. Whether the Jewish financiers’ capital was clean or not, or whether they had hidden agendas, none of that concerned Spain as the borrower. Junior’s signature was on a standard commercial loan contract. The source of a bank’s funds had nothing to do with him. Even if trouble arose later, the blame wouldn’t fall on Spain. No law in the world said that a borrower was responsible for where the lender’s money came from. Ambassador Brad reported, “The Jewish bankers are using our contract to raise funds everywhere. I sent someone to one of their presentations in Vienna. The situation isn’t great. The market has serious doubts about our repayment ability. If it weren’t for the high promised returns, no one would invest. That said, their sales pitch is impressive. Even with doubts, quite a few investors decided to take a gamble. As long as they don’t take the money and disappear, our future loans should still be secure. There are too many people with idle capital and not enough places to invest.” “Default?” No. The interest rate might be high, but as long as Spain could pay, it wouldn’t default. A nation’s credit was worth far too much. Unless absolutely necessary, no government would destroy it deliberately. “Keep them under surveillance,” Junior said. “Don’t make any moves for now. As long as the monthly transfers arrive on time, we’ll cooperate with them.” He hoped the lenders would have problems, but not yet. Ideally, they would collapse after Spain received the full amount. Deep down, Júnior even entertained a darker idea: gather evidence against the Jewish bankers and, once all the funds were secured, report them to the authorities and force them to flee. Of course, that was risky. If word got out, Spain’s reputation would be ruined and no bank would ever work with them again. After all, as the saying went, “All crows are equally black.” In this era, there wasn’t a single spotless bank, only those whose problems hadn’t yet come to light. Brad nodded and said, “Understood. I’ll assign people to monitor them long-term. There won’t be any trouble.” He paused, then asked, “Sir, have you decided on the arms purchases?” Whether it was suppressing the Philippine insurgents or the Cuban independence movement, they would both require weapons. Spain’s industrialization was only halfway done. Its military industry could “produce” in theory, but that didn’t mean it could deliver. Whether planes, artillery, tanks, or warships, Spain could make them in name, but that didn’t mean they actually worked. The issue wasn’t only limited capacity but also astronomical costs. Their domestic production costs nearly matched international market prices, yet the quality lagged behind. The government had tried to fix this. After the Anti-French War, under the Treaty of Vienna, France was forbidden to engage in military production. Its machinery and manufacturing lines were seized by the Anti-French Alliance as spoils of war, either dismantled and shipped away or destroyed on-site in “fireworks shows.” Ironically, those machines turned out to be useless trophies. The countries capable of using them had already completed industrialization and had their own systems, while those that needed them lacked the infrastructure and skilled workers. Spain, as one of the victors, had taken its share of equipment from France, but without an industrial base or trained labor, they could do nothing with it. The machines now sat in warehouses, rusting away. With the production lines idle, every bullet fired was one less in stock, and before long, Spain’s French-made weapons turned into little more than iron clubs. Just as the government was considering hiring French technicians to restart the production lines, Austrian military aid arrived. Free equipment was still free, and under the “too good to pass up” principle, the Spanish army quickly replaced their French gear with superior Austrian models. Of course, there was no such thing as a free lunch. The time had come to pay the bill. With the end of the Japanese–Spanish War, the era of free ammunition and weapons was over. To sustain its campaigns, Spain now had to buy arms directly from the Holy Roman Empire. “Our budget is limited,” Júnior said. “We’ll have to spend carefully. For standard weapons, armor, and ammunition, stick to the pre-approved list. As for aircraft, we’ll buy only twenty bombers for now. Tanks won’t be necessary since those rebels don’t require such equipment.” That a foreign minister was the one deciding military procurement said everything that needed to be said. Was it a matter of trust, or “trust”? There was no helping it. Spanish bureaucrats excelled at one thing, which was lining their own pockets. The others involved weren’t professionals either, even the so-called military representatives were career bureaucrats. Since everyone was an amateur, it was better to let an honest amateur handle it. At least Júnior, as foreign minister, wouldn’t stoop so low as to demand kickbacks.
*** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH)
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